Giving Opportunities

Your gifts to this fund will provide unrestricted support for the Center. Because this fund can be used for unexpected expenses and opportunities, your gifts will be especially powerful. These uses might include:

Expenses for presentations on campus by industry experts

Student expenses related to internships and learning experiences

Travel to film festivals and other meetings for both students and faculty

Materials and expenses related to film screenings

Visits to campus by filmmakers and specialists

Planned Gifts
If you are interested in any of the following special opportunities, please contact:

She would be pleased to assist you in the process of planning a gift and will also address questions or concerns that may arise after your gift is in place.

Every contact with her will be held in confidence and without cost or obligation, so please feel free to call her at 217.299.8895 or e-mail her for further information.

Endowed Professors of Practice: Your gift will bring to campus world-renowned industry experts, who will conduct workshops and classes in their areas of specialty.

Endowed Film Criticism Fellows: In recognition of Roger’s career in journalism, two Illinois undergraduate students, chosen annually from throughout the University, will be named an Ebert Fellow in Media Criticism and awarded a scholarship. Mentored by real critics, they will write for Illinois Public Media and the Daily Illini — Roger’s beloved student newspaper.

Endowed Film Scholars in Residence: Your gifts will fund scholars and researchers to come to the University of Illinois campus to enhance their research in their areas of expertise. They will work with students and faculty to produce research that is published in appropriate academic journals.

Endowed Scholarships: When you fund endowed scholarships, you will be supporting undergraduate students who seek further their study in motion pictures, film criticism, media studies and related disciplines.

Named Screening Room: Your gifts will bring an entire new space to the College of Media. With the support of donors like you, the College of Media will reconfigure 112 Gregory Hall and equip it with state of the art projection equipment providing a place where professors can screen and discuss movies as part of academic classes. Screenings will also be available for the campus community and general public to view, providing the very best in current and past international cinema, video and new media.

Endowed Chair for Film Studies: This professor will serve as Director of the Center and teach students in the College of Media. The director will plan, develop and manage the Center, its program and activities, to ensure the high standards and purposes established by Roger Ebert.

Roger Ebert’s Film Festival (Ebertfest): EbertFest will continue to celebrate films that have not received the recognition they deserved during their original runs. All the festival films will continue to be screened in the 1,500-seat Virginia Theatre, a restored 1920s movie palace with state-of-the-art 35/70mm and digital projection. Roger will continue to influence the choice of films, some of which come from lists of possible films that Roger drew up over the first 15 years of the festival. Chaz Ebert and Festival Director Nate Kohn will select additional films based on Roger’s established criteria for an Ebertfest film.

Life Forum and Seminars: The Life Forum, held each year prior to Ebertfest, will celebrate Roger’s legacy. Topics such as documentaries, the role of journalism in film criticism and artistic criticism versus entertainment will be discussed. The seminars will be hosted throughout the year, on campus and elsewhere, on issues of concern related to motion pictures and other media industries. The seminars will feature panel discussions by policy makers, filmmakers and critics.

The Roger Ebert Study Abroad and Study Domestic Programs: Study-abroad and study-domestic programs will offer students immersion experiences throughout the world or with the United States. Trips may include film festivals and visits with industry professionals in their places of work.